


If We Meet Again

by LMjuniper



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, F/F, One Shot, Still not over it!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 18:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17430980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LMjuniper/pseuds/LMjuniper
Summary: Six years after Chios Kassandra returns to where it all began.





	If We Meet Again

**Author's Note:**

> As per always, I ship the least popular couple.  
> There's a serious lack of Kassandra/Daphnae fics out there, so I had to take a swing at it.  
> It's short and angsty because I love meself some angst.

 

The temple lay quiet and abandoned, wild grass and bushes growing tall and rampant on the sacred ground. Vegetation was reclaiming the spot that had once been a place of worship. Kassandra paused briefly, her gaze taking in its slow decay into nothingness. Vines grew along the tattered walls, the once red pillars faded into a washed out pink. She drew to a stop where the overgrown path split in half. The wooden planks she‘d walked a thousand times were rotten, slowly falling apart. Years of Phokis’ temperamental weather reducing them to only splinters. She’d remembered it as a warm place. Now it only felt grey and cold.

Kassandra picked her way through the tall grass until she reached the small cliff that overlooked the valley beneath it. Miniature trees and well-trodden paths snaked their way through the valley. It had been five years since she last visited. At first, she’d returned whenever she could. Hoping and fearing she’d find Daphnae sitting by her campfire, the Shrine of Artemis full of the day’s offerings.

Hoping that maybe once the huntress’ initial anger had passed they could talk. Fearing that it hadn’t. That Daphnae would stay true to her promise. But Daphnae never returned and after a while, Kassandra didn’t see the point in doing so either.

She took a deep breath and let her gaze sweep across the valley painted gold by the setting sun. They used to sit on this cliff and watch the sunset. At first a good distance away from each other. But every time Kassandra returned, that distance seemed to close. Until one night they sat next to each other, shoulders touching as they laughed about a particularly funny story about Barnabas. This was the cliff on which she’d gone from beast slayer to Agapi almost seven years ago.

Some nights she could still remember the huntress’ scent. How Daphnae's skin felt against hers. Some nights it was the only thing that occupied her mind no matter how she tried to distract herself. But it had gone on for long enough. Now was the time to let go. She’d been holding on to a dream. A ghost.

Daphnae had pledged herself to Artemis. Her love, her heart, and body belonged to the goddess. And Kassandra was just an eagle bearer. No one gave up their place in Elysium for a misthios. It took her years to understand that. No, to accept it. And so she’d returned one last time. Just like with Mount Taygetos she needed to face the past before moving on.

Letting out the breath she’d been holding Kassandra kneeled down and placed the fur she’d brought on the small cliff. It was the fur of an alpha boar. A fine offering.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. To whom she wasn’t sure, the gods? Artemis herself? Daphnae? Perhaps the wind would carry her voice to wherever the huntress was.

“This is sacred ground. You should not be here,” a familiar voice said from behind her back.

It was the sweetest sound Kassandra had heard in a long time and despite its coldness, it sent a warm wave of longing through her.

Six years. Six years since they last spoke. Since that night on the hill on Chios where Daphnae promised to kill her should they ever meet again.

“I didn’t expect anyone would be here.” She didn’t dare turn around for fear that if she saw the huntress, she might just fall all over again.

“This is the Shrine of Artemis. What makes you think it would be empty?”

What was the polite way of saying the place looked like something Zeus shit out on a bad day? “Let’s just say it looks nothing like I remember it.”

Daphnae must have recognised Kassandra’s voice then because there was a sharp intake of air, then the sound of a bow being drawn reached Kassandra’s ears.

“I told you: if we meet again I will kill you.”

 _You already have._ She turned around slowly, hands raised in the air and as her eyes landed on the dark-haired beauty standing in front of her it felt like she’d got kicked off the Mount Taygetos all over again.

“ _Why_ are you here?” The voice which had been flinty and hard trembled ever so slightly, the arm drawing the bowstring shaking. Daphnae was a Daughter of Artemis. Hunting with a bow was as natural to her as breathing. Her arms didn’t shake. She was much too strong for that.

“I didn’t think you’d be here. I came to say—”

“This is _my_ sacred place. You have no right to be here.” Amber eyes blazed with anger. Just like six years before and it hurt more than Kassandra remembered.

“I only came to say goodbye.” She kept her voice steady but a cold lump settled in her chest.

“To who? You said you weren’t expecting anyone.” Daphnae’s dark brows furrowed, just like they always did when she suspected something wasn’t what it seemed to be.

“To old ghosts.”

“Ghosts? Since when does the mighty Eagle Bearer believe in ghosts?”

Kassandra ignored the question. “I came to say goodbye to us. I’ve travelled across Greece. I have lost so many people I care about. I’ve killed even more. People who have been my enemies. People who used to be my friends. I couldn’t lose you too,” she paused for a heartbeat, “and yet, I still did.”

“I asked you to honour the goddess. To honour _me_.”

Kassandra sighed and lowered her hands. She could stand there and pretend she was over it. Over Daphnae. That it didn't hurt with every single beat of her heart seeing the huntress again. But what was the point of pretending? “I would have killed any animal you challenged me to. I would‘ve gone to Tartarus and back, had you asked me to. Not because I am a misthios but because I love you.” She swallowed.

“Kassandra...” Daphnae whispered, her voice faltering.

She waited for the huntress to continue, but when she didn’t Kassandra let her head drop. In both shame for thinking Daphnae might have changed her mind, and in defeat.

“Maybe in another life.” She mustered a half-hearted smile, then before she could change her mind turned her back and leaped off the cliff towards the thick pile of hay below it.

To call it a soft landing might be generous. And yet, it was nothing compared to the pain tearing at her chest as she made her way back towards the Adrestia where she lay docked.

How many days and nights had she spent aching for Daphnae? Wanting to hear her voice again. To wake up next to her again. To feel her skin one last time or hear her deep, throaty laughter. Some days she felt like a man risen from Hades again. Not exactly alive, but not really dead. And yet, she’d do it all over again if it meant Daphnae was still alive. Perhaps that was the real reason the gods had brought them together.

Maybe Barnabas was right. Could there be a plan set in motion for them? Maybe they would meet again someday. In another life. The thought was a comforting one and though it felt like she was dying with every step she took, it gave her a small ounce of hope. That in one of all their lifetimes they would meet again. Until then she had a world to save.

 

 

       

         


End file.
